Rule changes confirmed

[ism22]

My reading is that basically...
- Penalties will be called instead of 6 agains (to prevent Easts from 'intentionally conceding 6 agains' all the time)

- You only get a free interchange for foul play when a player's binned or sent off (to stop Munster faking a head injury, a forward subbing on for him and then him subbing back on 10 minutes later for a tired forward without having done an HIA)

V'land@rse confirms this will all benefit Sam Walker as he was clearly a beneficiary of all the 6 again calls & penalties that Easts were awarded in 2021...

> “It’s certainly opened the game up to be more entertaining and brought the brilliant players back into vogue,” V’landys said to News Corp.

> “Without the rule changes, I don’t think players like Sam Walker and Reece Walsh would have been as dominant as they were.”

Source: https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl...7dd508e837971d

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Jizzy's suggestion...
- No rule changes.

- Publish a statement (worded like this, giving zero respect to Bellyache's 'strategy', while naming the flog & making it clear he asked whether he can do the dodge) 'Craig Bellamy has asked whether you get to avoid an HIA and do two interchanges if you suffer a head injury as a result of foul play. The NRL's position is that the rules are very clear on this and that players in such circumstances would still need to do an HIA'.

- Continue to ref 6-agains as usual. As is already the case, players can be sin-binned for repeated violations (after being warned...etc). Don't change this mid-season (like in 2021).

[Spirit of 66]

My reading is that basically...
- Penalties will be called instead of 6 agains (to prevent Easts from 'intentionally conceding 6 agains' all the time)

The Roosters were singled out for doing when they were defending their own line. This is about intentional six again infringements when teams are defending close to their opponents' line.

I reckon we won't get such a penalty all year, but will concede 50 of them.

[Roosterfarian]

Personally I hate the six-again rule. I wish they had scrapped it all together.

Also doesn't suit our team given we are consistently the highest penalised team without getting much in return.

[ccfc bondi]

Personally I hate the six-again rule. I wish they had scrapped it all together.

Also doesn't suit our team given we are consistently the highest penalised team without getting much in return.

Absolutely! A joke of rule that was used as a band-aid solution and brought with it a raft of other problems.

[King Salvo]

The Roosters were singled out for doing when they were defending their own line. This is about intentional six again infringements when teams are defending close to their opponents' line.

I reckon we won't get such a penalty all year, but will concede 50 of them.

Six again/Penalty rule change

It will only be penalties when defending teams concede ruck and 10 metre penalties in the 40 metre zone of the team in possession otherwise it will be 6 again/set restarts - Not sure of the stats on where teams concede these penalties for such a change to the rules as this - more likely to concede these penalties in your half and especially in your 20 and close to your line as the defending team one would think

Picture this your down by 1 point with 30 seconds remaining and your near the oppositions try line and they concede a ruck or 10 metre penalty - it's a six again/set restart and not a penalty so you can't kick for goal to win the match - time runs out and your not able to score and lose the match.

Team list announcements -proportionally increased from 21 to 22 players

I still don't know why clubs have to reduce their squad during the week to 19 players 24 hours prior to the kick off for every match - Teams are submitted 1 hour before kick off - supposedly it's to protect the integrity of the game if say X and Y main players in Z team are injured and unscrupulous folk find out they wont be playing even though they have been selected they might bet big on the opposition team with this information?.

No free interchange for a player just placed on report ?

Will this result in an increase in sin bins and send off's ? - What if a player is genuinely injured as a result of foul player and the offender is only put on report - the non offending team is disadvantaged if that player cannot take any further part in the match.

Injury stoppages.

Only match officials (ref/touch judge and bunker) can stop play for injuries other than head injuries - will they have to undertake medical training to be able to know if an injury is serious enough for the game to be stopped plus you can see this being exploited as a leg injury could suddenly develop into a "head injury" so the trainer can stop the game and get that player off and put a new one on - since the game is about the ball being in play longer and the least amount of stoppages possible the only way to get such players off will be to stop the game via a "head injury" if the match officials and bunker don't stop the game

[NorfolkStreetKid]

Not so much rule changes as a return to what they were 2 years ago, so I don't see any problem. Trying to undo changes which have been abused by coaches. There still has to be something done about the biggest blight on the game, the wrestle, and interference with the play the ball.
I think the game would be much better if the refs called HELD earlier, when the players forward movement was stopped, and there was an immediate release of the ball carrier once HELD was called.
I think LATE hits on kickers should also be eliminated, maybe by making the penalty more severe, by giving the attacking team a penalty 20 metres downfield, and a 7 tackle set.